Empowering AGYW

Empowering AGYW: A Holistic Path to Health, Safety, and Autonomy

In the heart of Uganda’s Busoga region and Kampala, a quiet revolution is unfolding—one that seeks to dismantle the complex barriers holding back adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). The Empowering AGYW initiative is a targeted, multi-sectoral response to the intersecting crises of health, poverty, and inequality that disproportionately impact young women in high-burden districts.

Focusing on the districts of Kamuli and Namayingo, this initiative confronts some of Uganda’s most pressing statistics: some of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy, low use of maternal health services, elevated HIV vulnerability, and widespread gender-based violence. These are not isolated issues but symptoms of deep-rooted drivers: poverty, harmful cultural practices, early marriage, geographic isolation, and a critical shortage of youth-friendly health services.

In this context—marked by a youthful population, constrained health infrastructure, and pervasive stigma—AGYW are too often excluded from the very information and care that could protect their futures, leading to increased risks of early childbearing, poor health outcomes, and long-term marginalization.

Our Integrated, Ground-Up Strategy

Bridging the Health Gap: We bring services directly to those who need them most. Through targeted health outreaches, school-based HPV immunization, and peer-led mobilization, we create vital linkages to SRHR, HIV, TB, and GBV services, ensuring care is accessible, friendly, and stigma-free.
Unlocking Economic Potential: We address the structural drivers of risk head-on. Vocational skills training provides tangible alternatives, expanding economic opportunities and reducing reliance on harmful coping mechanisms like transactional sex and early marriage. Empowerment is economic as much as it is social.
Fostering an Enabling Environment: By combining health, education, and livelihoods support within a single framework, we work to build a protective community environment where AGYW are supported to thrive, not just survive.